


So Long Gay Boys

by aurics



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Crack, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 14:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1713605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurics/pseuds/aurics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your worst nightmare (or best fantasies) of suchen. Features selu, baekyeol, kaisoo, and a damn lakehouse. Chaos ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Long Gay Boys

**Author's Note:**

> ☆ this fic is geographically obscure um idk we kind of just wanted OT12 to do dumb things together  
> ☆ also let's say they're all of the same age or sth

 

Jongdae caresses his ears protectively as he recalls what Chanyeol had jokingly told him earlier that day. _Your ears look like a monkey’s in that!_ He had laughed out loud while pushing the graduate cap further down Jongdae’s head, much to his displeasure.

_Rich, coming from you,_ Jongdae had bitterly remarked, for which he earned a slap from Baekhyun. The boy’s protectiveness of Chanyeol had further convinced Jongdae of their mutual crush on each other, however much the pair tries to deny, saying _ew who would like a midget like Baekhyun_ or _what low, stupid human being would find Chanyeol’s maniacal grin attractive_ and once, in unison, _Jongdae, worry about your own crush._

Really, it’s not that he makes it totally obvious. Although now that Jongdae thinks about it, it is a little pathetic how after seven years of stable friendship he still has to hide behind his textbook whenever Junmyeon passes his house; how he has to restrain himself from breaking out into a dumb grin when Junmyeon happily waves at him; how he has to hang out every day on his front porch just to catch a glimpse of Junmyeon walking home.

Today is no exception. As usual, Jongdae is stationed at the small coffee table outside, breathing in the subtly fresh spring air and constantly glancing at the gates of their housing complex. He checks his watch. Junmyeon should be here anytime soon, and he needs to at least look as if he’s remotely interested in his studies, because Junmyeon had once casually let him know that the best type of people are hard-working people. Little did Junmyeon know how much that once sentence had dictated most, if not all, of Jongdae’s free time and habits.

Just as he flips open some textbook he had randomly pulled out of his bag, Jongdae hears a loud laugh and hurried footsteps. His heartbeat picks up pace as he looks up and watches Junmyeon stumble through the gates, draped in his royal blue graduation gown and a couple of his friends whom Jongdae doesn’t recognise slapping him on the back. The gesture isn’t forceful or meant to hurt, but Junmyeon clutches his sides and scrunches up his face in what seems to be an expression of pain. _Oh no._

Jongdae immediately sits up, clenches his fists and shouts at the top of his lungs, “Stop hurting Junmyeon!”

The two boys stop laughing as Junmyeon hurriedly stands up straight, his face suddenly panic-stricken. In an instant, Jongdae feels the same – he’s suddenly overly conscious of himself as three pairs of eyes study him carefully, probably trying to decide whether to break out into another round of laughter or walk away quietly. The air is thick, and Jongdae bites the inside of his mouth as a punishment because _well done, Jongdae, you just made a fool of yourself._

“Don’t worry about it, Jongdae,” Junmyeon shouts back, draping his arms around his friends’ shoulders. It looks a little comical, because both of them are significantly taller than Junmyeon, and they look like bent palm trees under the weight of his arms. “They’re just joking, and it really doesn’t hurt either.”

“Yah, get off of me.” The guy on Junmyeon’s left grumbles, shaking his silver-grey head with a pout.

“Um,” Jongdae’s suddenly stuck in an awkward situation, and he has never been good at handling awkward situations. Especially ones involving Junmyeon. “O…okay then. I’ll just – uh, go back to studying,”

“Hold on, I need to talk to you.” Junmyeon turns to his friends and says something Jongdae can’t hear.

After what seems like decades, Junmyeon speed-walks to Jongdae’s porch with a huge grin that distorts his face.

“Don’t smile like that, you look –“ Damn. This always happens. Whenever Jongdae tries to insult Junmyeon, he can never get it out. It’s like his tongue refuses to badmouth Junmyeon, as if it knows that he is a demigod sent from the heavens above to grace the Earth with his presence.

“Handsome? Cool?” Junmyeon wiggles his eyebrows, and Jongdae scowls. Not particularly at his statement, but more at the way he secretly agrees with the descriptions.

“Anyway, what were you going to tell me?” Jongdae tries to change the subject. He pulls out a chair at the coffee table, onto which Junmyeon promptly falls.

Instead of answering his question, Junmyeon looks at the textbooks neatly laid out and sends a funny look at him. “Why are you studying?”

“Huh? What?”

“We’ve graduated, remember,” Junmyeon laughs, ignoring the noise of protest Jongdae lets out when he closes the books with a loud thud. “Stop working so hard, I know you’re one of the smartest in your school anyway.”

“But I never beat your scores,” Jongdae quietly mutters. “It’s only because my school is a normal school.” _Not the elite one you go to_ , he doesn’t add.

“Didn’t you have your ceremony today?” Jongdae quietly nods, and Junmyeon puts the books down on the floor. “Then let’s forget about these for a moment.”

“Fine.” Jongdae sniffs.

“Hey,” Junmyeon taps the table. Jongdae looks up, only to meet the glinting brown eyes that have always captivated Jongdae. “Listen, since it’s basically our last break before we all go off to university, I was thinking of a getaway.”

Jongdae perks up. “Go on.”

“Well, I was thinking. You know that lake house my dad has?”

“Which one? I always lose track of all the houses you have.” Jongdae deadpans.

“The one that you said looks like it came out of a European movie.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“So, I don’t know, for a celebration kind of thing, maybe…” he trails off a little. “Do you want to come with me and camp over for a few days?”

All of a sudden his mind is overwhelmed with every fantasy of Junmyeon he has ever had – a _lake house_ , just _him and Junmyeon_ , probably sharing _the same bedroom_ and it’s close to summer now so it would probably get a little stuffy in the room. And when it gets a little stuffy –

He takes a deep breath, and another, and another until he’s filled with so much air he coughs, arms flailing at his sides and narrowly missing Junmyeon’s concerned face.

“Are you okay?” Junmyeon gets up from his seat, but Jongdae hurriedly waves him off.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Do you need a drink? I have my bottle here –“

“No, no, please, really it’s cool.” He’s a little dizzy from the thought of sharing an indirect kiss with Junmyeon.

When he has, questions, along with doubt, replace the embarrassing fantasies in his mind. “Are you…are you sure you want _me_ to come with you?”

Junmyeon smiles. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I? You were the first friend I made when I moved to this neighbourhood.” He ruffles Jongdae’s hair. “What better way to celebrate the first steps of our well-earned freedom together?”

Sometimes – no, every time Junmyeon does this; smile at him with his white teeth peeking out, eyes crinkling into crescents, Jongdae’s convinced he’s the happiest man in the world, blessed by an angel on Earth.

“Okay, then,” he tries for a nonchalant tone, but Junmyeon probably picked up the hidden excitement behind it. “I’ll go with you. When do we leave?”

“Awesome!” Junmyeon claps loudly. “We leave on Sunday morning. I’ll pick you up at eight, and we can walk to the train station together.”

“Train station?” Jongdae cocks an eyebrow.

“Ah, well,” Junmyeon hesitates. “I – kind of wanted to try independent traveling, you know. My parents offered me a chauffeur with a van and everything, but I thought it would be nicer if we traveled by ourselves.”

Jongdae smiles in satisfaction. This is getting better by the second. “Sounds good.” He lies, because it sounds fucking perfect.

“Awesome,” Junmyeon repeats, standing up and brushing down his graduation gown. “See you then! Remember to pack your swimming stuff!”

 

 

-

 

 

Sunday morning has Jongdae waking up thirty-three minutes earlier than his six a.m. alarm clock, with a racing heart and eyebags he badly needs to cover up. He hadn’t been able to get much sleep the night before, spending the better part of his night trying to think of ways to a) calm down, b) stop coming up with scenarios that only exist in cheesy love stories, c) to stop worrying about what he should wear (this was fairly easy to do as Junmyeon’s fashion sense tends to lean towards atrocious) and d) stop thinking about Junmyeon.

The last is nearly impossible to do because as soon as he turns over to check his phone, a text message from Junmyeon pops up:

_We’ll be staying for three nights, but we might extend the stay~ I hope you got lots of rest because it’ll be a long journey ahead!_

_-Junmyeon_

Trying to stop thinking about Junmyeon would essentially be trying to stop thinking about the trip. Jongdae secretly coos at how Junmyeon always signs off his text messages, as if he’s afraid that no one saves his number in their contact lists, and how his text messages are perfectly punctuated and spelt, with no errors whatsoever. Such a perfect man.

_got it thx dude_

Jongdae hurriedly types before rolling out of bed. It’s still too early to get ready, but might as well put in some extra effort.

 

 

-

 

 

“Listen, take some cups of ramen with you because I don’t trust any of you to cook proper food –“

“Mum, my bag’s way too full already!” Jongdae whines. And it’s true – his duffel bag has doubled in size and now looks like a giant overstuffed hamster, except it’s significantly less furry. He grimaces at the seams that look like they’re about to rip apart. “It’s not like we can’t go out and buy something anyway.”

“Money, Jongdae, money,” his mother says, ruthlessly unzipping his bag and forcing three cups of ramen into every corner with an inch of free space. “You should always do anything to save money.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. It’s not like his family isn’t well off, but his mother had always been far too financially aware to be called normal.

“Okay, but that’s it, I’m not taking the Kikkoman sauce.” He warns just as his mum takes out the bottle with a clink.

“Right, okay, maybe that’s going a little too far.” Just then, the doorbell rings and Jongdae jumps to his feet. He checks his watch, and it’s precisely eight a.m. Junmyeon’s not even a minute late.

“By god, that scared me. That must be Junmyeon.” His mother hurries over, giving him a peck on each cheek and holding his face in her two hands. “My baby is so grown up now.”

“Mum, I’m eighteen,” he sighs, but he can’t say he doesn’t like her attention. “I’ll be alright. It’ll be fun.”

They open the door, and Junmyeon immediately bows a full ninety degrees upon seeing Jongdae’s mother. “Mrs Kim, good morning.”

“Good morning Junmyeon. You look so handsome today.”

Jongdae must agree, seeing his signature heart-winning smile and black hair falling into his face a little messily. But he’s not sure he can say the same about his plaid shorts paired with a long-sleeved white shirt, rolled back to expose a little bit of vampire-white skin. And the very ugly, bulky-looking shoes. Jongdae decides that if his fantasies do come true, the first thing he will do is brainwash Junmyeon and change his fashion sense completely.

“Have fun kids.” Without Jongdae noticing, the two had finished their small talk and Junmyeon’s got Jongdae’s duffel bag in one hand. “Take care, alright? And call me once you get there.”

“We will, Mrs Kim, don’t worry.” Junmyeon doesn’t let go of Jongdae’s bag, however much he tries to pry it off his fingers, grumbling _I’m not a girl I can do it myself._

“I trust you, Junmyeon. Goodbye, Jongdae!”

Once the doors close, Jongdae pokes Junmyeon hard in the stomach, relishing in the yelp he lets out and grabbing the bag that has broken free of his grip.

“Don’t make me feel like a damsel in distress.” He huffs, slinging the bag over his shoulder.

“Okay, okay.” Junmyeon laughs, picking up his own bag that seems a lot less stuffed than Jongdae’s.

“What do you have in there?”

“What? Oh,” Jongdae shrugs. “Just clothes.”

“Shall we get going then?”

Jongdae nods, and when Junmyeon smiles it’s different than his usual smile – it’s more relaxed, but lifted up at the corners a little playfully. Jongdae’s heart skips a beat when he realises that it might well be reserved for him, and him only.

 

 

-

 

 

The walk to the train station is relatively peaceful; if you don’t count the multiple times Jongdae either shuts up completely and lets Junmyeon talk (because his voice really does soothe the atmosphere) or blabbers on about things Junmyeon probably has zero interest in. But he never shows it, nodding to everything Jongdae says and occasionally asking questions or making remarks Jongdae doesn’t have an answer to.

Their friendship has always been like this – at the end of the day, they’re each other’s solace, a place to let loose from their school’s expectations and the different people they have to put up with. They find it much easier to bullshit (Junmyeon prefers the word _criticise_ ) people at school to someone who has never met them, even if it’s just so that the person can take their side.

By the time they’ve reached the train station, Junmyeon’s forehead is covered with a thin sheen of sweat and Jongdae’s arm feels like it’s about to break.

“We’re here!” Junmyeon sounds like he’s about to cry, throwing his arms around Jongdae’s shoulders and nearly toppling them both.

“Yeah, we made it.” Instead of pulling away, Jongdae brings his hands to Junmyeon’s waist to steady both of them. _Holy shit_ , he thinks excitedly. _We haven’t even arrived and I’m already making progress._

“Oh look! I see everyone else waiting!”

It hits Jongdae like a bucket of cold water because _everyone? Else?_ He turns around in the direction Junmyeon’s pointing at, and is greeted with an eyeful of people he has never met before standing in a line, waving their arms at the sides in sync to form something that resembles a giant millipede.

“We’ve waited for a long time, Junmyeon!” The person at the front of the line grins maniacally, and Jongdae dreadfully recognises him as the silver-haired guy he saw a few days ago.

“He brought a pet along!”

“Luhan, that’s rude! Who’s that Junmyeon?”

“He’s my friend, you assholes,” Baekhyun breaks out of the line, and Jongdae wants to cry when he sees Chanyeol tagging along behind him. This nightmare is turning worse by the minute. “Hey Jongdae! I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Uh, Junmyeon…” Jongdae whispers. “Are they all coming along too?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I invited all my close friends!” He grins, oblivious to the loud sound of Jongdae’s hopes and dreams shattering into pieces. “I wanted to introduce you to my friends too. You know, my friends are your friends –“

“Aren’t you happy to see us?” Chanyeol punches Jongdae’s arm. “If Baekhyun and I didn’t come, you’d be stuck with these weirdos alone, not knowing who they are and shit.”

“You talk like we’re going to eat him or something.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“How do you know these people?” Jongdae asks curiously. Four other people stand before him, and he has no clue who any of them are.

“Baekhyun and I go to the same course as them. You know, the after school one? The one you skip all the time because you can’t be bothered?”

Jongdae laughs light-heartedly, hoping it doesn’t sound too forced because all he wants to do right now is run back home and spend his whole summer lamenting over his ruined trip.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Suho grabs Jongdae by the arm and drags him over closer to his friends. He feels four pairs of eyes study him, and he squirms under the attention. “This is Luhan and this is Sehun,” a ginger-haired boy who’s basically hanging off a taller, blonde boy’s arm waves at him with a big smile, and Sehun simply gives him the v-sign. “They’re inseparable, and go at it like rabbits.”

“ _Thank you_ , Junmyeon.” Sehun rolls his eyes.

“This is Jongin and Kyungsoo,” a short (even shorter than Baekhyun!) red-haired guy smiles, and hits the silver-haired boy, who was too busy cracking a joke with Sehun to pay attention, quite hard on the back.

“Ow! That hurts!”

“Don’t be rude and say hi.”

“Hey, I think we’ve met before,” Jongin nods at him. “ _Don’t hurt Junmyeon!_ Is that right?”

Heat creeps up onto his cheeks, and Jongdae can hear Baekhyun dying from laughter at the back, choking out a ‘ _did he seriously say that?’_

“Don’t remind me.”

“Yeah, probably the best for both of us,” Jongin reaches out a hand. “Nice to meet you though.”

“Okay! Now that everyone knows everyone’s names,” Junmyeon clasps his hands together, eyes sparkling in excitement. “I think our train’s here, so let’s board it!”

“He’s totally excited,” Luhan says into Sehun’s ear, too loud considering the little space there is between his lips and Sehun’s ear. “I don’t think the rich bastard has ever ridden a train before.”

“I heard that.”

“I can’t wait to grill some meat.” Kyungsoo picks up his and Jongin’s bag, much to Jongdae’s confusion. Jongin’s hands are completely free of baggage, and he can’t think of why he can’t bring it himself.

“Grill some for me, pleaseeeeee,” Jongin pouts and Jongdae wants to gag, because someone with that sexy face is not supposed to have so much aegyo.

“Okay, okay, and I’ll feed them to you too. Sounds good?”

Jongdae’s still a little dazed when he walks between the rows of seats, taking the nearest space beside Chanyeol two rows from the last. As he’s about to put his duffel bag into the overhead compartment, though, Baekhyun forcefully pulls him away to the side.

“Hey, what the fuck?”

“That’s my space, only _I_ get to sit next to Chanyeol.” Baekhyun complains.

“Why? You guys want to suck face during the whole ride?”

Baekhyun’s cheeks turn a little red but he goes on as if he’s not aware of his reddening face. “No what the hell you sick minded person. We want to discuss battle tactics for League of Legends, duh.”

“Yeah, Jongdae, go find another place.” Chanyeol scoots to make room for Baekhyun, and Jongdae scowls at the pair. He’s pretty sure that they’re not oblivious – they’re just too immature to accept their feelings towards each other.

He looks around the compartment and searches for an empty seat. Sehun and Luhan had occupied the row behind Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and had already settled down cozily by the looks of it – Luhan’s got his head on Sehun’s shoulder, with Sehun’s arm around him and his hands playing with his hair. His other hand is holding Luhan’s and caressing the back of his palm with a thumb. _Well_ they’re _not one for subtlety_ , Jongdae thinks. Kyungsoo and Jongin had settled down as well, Kyungsoo with his head buried in a book and Jongin trying hard not to stare at him.

That leaves one space.

Jongdae’s torn between jumping in joy and retreating to the back of the compartment and hiding in the bathroom and he walks over to Junmyeon, who’s busy checking his pockets for his ticket.

“Can I, um, sit here?”

“Sure. I’ll probably be a boring person to sit next to, though. I’ll be reading most of the way.”

“No, no, go ahead, it’s totally cool.” _You’re totally cool,_ Jongdae wants to say.

He tries very, very hard not to listen to other people’s conversations. But it’s incredibly difficult to not eavesdrop, even with the soft drone of the train that hums through the compartment.

“I don’t think this ginger hair suits me.” Jongdae can hear the pout in Luhan’s voice. “I look like a roasted turkey in barbecue sauce.”

“No, babe, you look great. I’m actually digging this bright colour. Nice change from pastels.”

“But still, it’s so hard to get my eyebrows to match the colour. It’s even harder than when I had my blonde hair!”

“Don’t dye your hair too often, babe, it’ll get damaged.” Jongdae closes his eyes, trying very hard to focus on the side of his arm that’s pressed onto Junmyeon’s instead. “I don’t want your hair falling off like a cat’s.”

“Look who’s talking! Remember that rainbow hair you had and you had to re-dye it every three days or something.”

Jongdae is starting to notice a pattern in Junmyeon’s circle of friends – they seem to be very fond of eccentric and adventurous hair colours. He wonders why Junmyeon isn’t as crazy as they are.

“Yeah of course. God, I couldn’t find any shirt that would go with that hair.”

“It was a period of both health and fashion crisis.” Luhan sighs dramatically. “Never again.”

“Listen to this.” Jongdae hears shuffling, and after a few seconds of silence Luhan lets out a high-pitched yelp.

“What the fuck? Did I just hear – oh my god I heard _oppa_ in this, this –“

“Yep.” Jongdae can hear the grin in Sehun’s voice.

“Don’t tell me…it’s…”

“Yep. A compilation of all the supernatural tracks from the CDs I got. Pretty cool stuff right?”

“No! Fuck I hate you holy shit that voice will keep me awake at night YOU KNOW I CAN’T TAKE HORROR CRAP.”

“You’re afraid of anything horror-related?” Jongdae turns around in his seat, trying to speak through the small gaps between the chairs.

“Aren’t they made specifically for that purpose? To scare people?”

Jongdae thinks hard about this.

“Hey guys!” Chanyeol shouts suddenly, oblivious to the strange looks people send his way. “Have any of you seen Kyungsoo?”

Junmyeon turns in his seat. “What the –“

“Yeah, I don’t think he boarded the train with us. Jongin, you’ve got his phone numb – ouch!”

Kyungsoo had thrown a full water bottle in the pair’s direction across the aisle, an irritated scowl on his face.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“Oh, the brainless couple is awake. I thought you guys were sleeping with your eyes open.”

The whole compartment, including Jongdae and a few other stranges, laugh at Kyungsoo’s remark.

“Hey, don’t fight, we’re on a trip,” Junmyeon laughs along with them, and closes his book. “You haven’t seen anything yet, Jongdae.”

“That’s okay. Your friends are really cool people.”

And Jongdae’s telling the truth, as sincerely as he can.

 

 

-

 

They got a van to pick them up from the train station anyway, because the distance to the lake house is a little too far to walk. Jongdae finds himself lost in easy conversations with Junmyeon’s friends, and although at times it’s still a little awkward, he finds that he doesn’t mind it at all. The prospect of spending a few days of freedom with just friends and no rules sends the mood in the vehicle sky-high.

“We’re here!”

Through the window, Jongdae can see lots of trees and the outline of a European-style wooden house slowly coming into view, the lake outstretched behind it and the ripples sparkling like glitter under the sunlight. It’s a breathtaking sight, and Jongdae can’t help the squeal that tumbles out of his mouth.

“Someone’s excited,” Baekhyun nudges Jongdae’s arm, whispering near his ear as they both crowd around the window.

“As if you aren’t.”

“Hey, I never said I wasn’t.”

 

-

 

“This is so great!” Chanyeol stretches his arms, standing on the railing of the patio overlooking the lake. It’s midday and the sun is high up in the sky, yet it doesn’t feel hot at all with the soft breeze playing with their hair every now and then.

Baekhyun comes up behind Chanyeol and encircles his arms around his abdomen, laughing when Chanyeol lets out a shriek. But he doesn’t shake Baekhyun off and the two start singing an incoherent version of _My Heart Will Go On._ Jongdae rolls his eyes.

Junmyeon walks onto the patio and claps his hands. “Alright, guys! Let’s sort out the rooming plans.”

They all drag out a chair for themselves (except Luhan and Sehun, who opt to share a chair together. Luhan ends up sitting on Sehun’s lap with his head tucked under Sehun’s chin) and form a circle to emphasise the ‘serious mode’.

“Right, so there are 5 bedrooms currently available right now, but I think the door’s broken on one of them or something. So we all have to share a room with one other person, whether we like it or not.”

“That’s easy then, we’re all sorted.” Sehun deadpans.

“No, wait, I have one rule.” Junmyeon crosses his arms seriously. “No couples are allowed to share a room.”

Loud noises of protest erupt from his friends, and Jongdae raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun and Chanyeol who seem to be against the case as well.

“Are you guys a couple too, now?” He interrogates.

“We’re considering them as a couple, since they really are but just don’t want to put the _label_ on it.” Junmyeon’s expression is serious.

“For god’s sake, can’t a guy have a best friend nowadays?” Jongdae hears Baekhyun mutter.

“Why are you trying to ruin our holiday before we even start it?” Luhan grumbles into Sehun’s shoulder, eyes starting to get a little teary.

“I’m trying to make it better for everyone,” Junmyeon sighs. “Remember, this is a group trip, not your own personal honeymoons. It wouldn’t be fair on people who don’t have a partner.”

“God, Junmyeon, if you’re jealous why didn’t you just say so?” Jongin rolls his eyes.

“Why can’t you be like Jongdae and not complain about your own pathetic love life?”

Jongdae frowns at Baekhyun’s words. “Hey, what was that for –“

“Look, I’m happy for you all but let’s just give this a try, okay? You’ve got the whole day to spend with each other anyway, it’s only during the night?”

Everyone voices out their agreements with different levels of enthusiasm.

They end up with Baekhyun and Luhan, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo and Sehun and Jongin sharing a room.

This leaves Junmyeon and Jongdae to share a room, and Jongdae has to bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming in excitement.

 

 

 

It’s only when they go back in and get their first proper look around the house that they realise what a mess it is. The floor is covered with a thick layer of dust, only slightly lighter on the areas they’ve stepped on. In the middle of the ceiling, which is covered in cobwebs, hangs a chandelier, looking like it’s about to collapse under the weight of the dirt coating every surface of it. When someone bumps into the back of the sofa, a cloud of dust goes off into the air in all its dirty glory. Soon it gets a little hard to breathe and a few people start to cough.

“Where are all your servants, Junmyeon?” Baekhyun scrunches up his nose. “They should be running around treating us like queens by now.”

“Ah, about that,” Junmyeon says, ignoring Baekhyun’s use of the female monarch instead of its male counterpart. “I told you I wanted this to be an independent holiday, so I kind of…sent away…all the helpers.”

“Are you crazy?” Luhan shrieks from behind Baekhyun, shaking him senselessly. “How do you expect us to live in these conditions?”

“My hair is going limp just at the thought of it!” Baekhyun wails. “My beautiful, newly-dyed hair!”

“Um, guys –“

“I think my skin is going to peel away if it comes into contact with any of this furniture.”

“Guys, you know –“

“EW I THINK I TOUCHED SOMETHING DIRTY.”

“GUYS!!!”

Everyone turns Kyungsoo, who had let out an unexpectedly loud yell for such a small person. Chanyeol points this out, earning a whack from Kyungsoo. “I think all of you are just overreacting. We can just clean the place out ourselves.”

“What a good idea!” Junmyeon claps his hands. “And with the eight of us, it’ll be done in no time!”

“Eight of us? Oh no, I’m not touching any of this filth and damaging my skin. I worked hard to get it all moisturised before graduation you know.” Baekhyun huffs. “Byun Baek is out of here. You can all do it yourselves.”

“If Baekhyun’s going, I’m going too.”

“What? Luhan what excuse do _you_ have?”

Luhan turns around, squinting at Kyungsoo. “My shirt is worth than all your savings multiplied by three and added to Jongin’s combined, don’t you tell me I don’t have an excuse.”

“Can’t we leave the cleaning until later?” Sehun pouts. “There’s a great lake outside and I think I saw some fish in there and stuff. Let’s just enjoy our time here and worry about this later.”

“Sehun has a point,” Junmyeon says, and Jongdae wants to roll his eyes at how easily swayed he is. “We should enjoy our time here. And it’s a lovely day, too! It would be a shame if we spent it cooped up in the house.”

“Okay! Last one to the lake gets no barbecue meat!” Chanyeol shouts before taking off to the lake, screaming like a madman all the way and Baekhyun, Jongin and Luhan following behind.

Soon everyone is on the water’s edge – some more daring ones like Baekhyun had gotten chin-deep in the water – except for Jongdae and Kyungsoo, who are still standing in the doorway breathing in the dusty air.

“Aren’t you going too, Jongdae?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice. What about you?”

“Oh no. You think I’m leaving the place like this?” Kyungsoo laughs sinisterly, pulling his sleeves up with brute force. Jongdae jumps a little. “You are sorely mistaken.”

Later, when the water is lapping at Jongdae’s toes and he looks back at the house, he sees Kyungsoo running around with his hands on the floor and ass in the air, dragging a rag back and forth across the tiles. He might be imagining it, but he thinks he sees Kyungsoo wearing a maniacal grin on his face, all the while muttering to himself.

Junmyeon’s friends have got some serious issues.

 

 

-

 

 

“Mfph, this feels so good.” Luhan wiggles his toes under the slightly cold water, feeling smooth pebbles digging into his skin.

“That’s what you sound like in the bedroom.”

“Shut up, Jongin, how would you know?”

“Hey, look,” Jongdae points at something off to Luhan’s right. “It looks like a human’s head.”

Luhan whips around and immediately screams, “OH MY GOD A DROWNED BODY?”

It takes three of them and large amounts of marshmallow stuffed in Luhan’s mouth to subdue his screams of “I TOUCHED CORPSE WATER!!”. They manhandle him back to the shore, before Jongin waddles into the water and pulls out a bunch of twigs covered in dripping leaves.

“Jongdae, I question your definition of a human head.”

He shrugs, grinning. “It was worth scaring Luhan with.”

Chanyeol wades into the water with them. “This is why you’re my best friend.”

“I thought _I_ was your best friend.” Baekhyun pouts at Chanyeol’s arm around Jongdae, who squirms to get away from the physical contact.

“You’re my other best friend,” he pokes Baekhyun’s cheek. “Are you jealous?”

“Yes, I’m jealous you idiot!” Baekhyun huffs, ignoring Chanyeol’s surprised face.

“You guys,” Jongdae finally manages to wrestle out of Chanyeol’s grip. “There are like ten rooms in the house – go get one.”

When Baekhyun turns away to start swimming to the middle of the lake, Jongdae watches as Chanyeol shakes out of whatever trance he was in and shouts _wait!,_ paddling through the water after him. _Stupid Chanyeol,_ Jongdae shakes his head. _So in love yet so clueless._ At least Jongdae fully acknowledges his crush on (or undying obsession for) Junmyeon.

Speaking of Junmyeon.

Jongdae watches him from the corner of his eye, reclining on a beach chair and reading the book he had on the train. He looks perfectly tranquil, Jongdae notices. This Junmyeon is infinitely more relaxed – not that he’s perpetually stressed on normal days. It’s just that usually, Jongdae can detect some kind of strain, or an uptight aura around him that makes his actions and words restrained. But looking at him like this, not bothering to fix his hair when soft gusts of wind mess it up, only laughing when Sehun accidentally splashes water on his book, tilting his head back to feel the warm sun on his skin; Jongdae likes him like this. Even more than he usually does.

“Is it going to get cold at night?” Sehun shouts from where he’s skipping stones across the lake, trousers pulled halfway down his butt and exposing his neon pink underwear. No one bothers telling him anything. “I didn’t really bring any warm clothes.”

“Not really, the weather’s always nice around these parts.” Junmyeon says. “We can see lots of stars from here, though.”

“What does that have anything to do with the weather?” Baekhyun mutters.

“Do you guys want to do something?” Junmyeon finally puts his book down, and Baekhyun snorts.

“We _have_ been doing things, thank you. But I guess you couldn’t see that through your book.”

“Aren’t we going to have barbecue?” Kyungsoo suddenly walks by, sleeves still rolled up and bare feet looking very pale against the rocky shore. “I’ve taken the meat out and I found the grill in the kitchen, but I didn’t find any coal. Or rice for that matter,” Kyungso turns to Jongin, annoyance on his face. “Weren’t you supposed to bring rice for us?”

“Shit,” Jongin slaps his forehead. “I –“

“Forgot, yeah, yeah.” Kyungsoo sighs. “Someone has to go buy some rice from some shop, then.”

“Sorry, Soo.” Jongin clings to his arm. Kyungsoo simply shakes him off.

“Is anyone considerate enough of our empty stomachs to make the journey?”

“Why can’t you do it?” Luhan lifts his sunglasses up.

Kyungsoo looks like he’s about to punch Luhan and drown his body to make his assumption of corpse water correct. “Because you lazyass pricks are too multi-million dollar to do it, I just cleaned the whole house _all by myself_ , not to mention putting the groceries in the cupboards and the luggage in the right rooms.”

“You’d make such a good little housewife, Soo-yah.” Jongin pats his butt.

Kyungsoo doesn’t even flinch. “I am not here to be your housemaid because Junmyeon thought he could live independently, Luhan, so if you want to eat, buy the rice yourself.”

Luhan gives this a long thought, and then he shrugs. “Nah, carbs.”

“I feel like this is my fault, so I’ll buy the rice.” Junmyeon stands up from his seat, stretching his arms in this air and ignoring Baekhyun’s comments about stomach flab.

“I think that’s ideal, since you know the neighbourhood and stuff.”

“Alright, I’ll get to it. Anyone want to come with me?”

For a while, everyone is too absorbed in their own activities to be paying any attention. Suddenly, Chanyeol’s thunderous voice announces, as if out of some documentary about migrating animals: “Jongdae will accompany you on your journey!”

“What?” Jongdae drops the pebbles he’d been picking up to skip with Sehun. “What did I do?”

“What you’re _going_ to do, my man. You’re going to go with Junmyeon to buy the rice.”

“What? Wh – why me?” Jongdae repeats, obviously flustered.

Chanyeol sees through him and whispers in his ear. “Play it cool!”

“You sure, Jongdae?” Junmyeon unbuttons the first button on his shirt that’s been suffocating him, flexing the collar a little. Upon seeing Jongdae’s Adam’s apple bob up and down, Chanyeol sniggers. “The nearest shop is quite a distance away on foot.”

“Yeah, yeah he’ll be fine. Haven’t you heard, he’s the winner in our cross country school – oof!”

“There was a fly.” Jongdae says curtly when Chanyeol massages his sore nose, still feeling the weight of Jongdae’s palm on it.

“Be thankful you’ve never gotten a nosejob or your nose would’ve been ruined by now.”

“Is it Luhan’s job to be making useless comments 24/7?” asks Kyungsoo, finally dipping his toes into the water.

“Pretty much.”

 

 

-

 

 

“To the right of the house you’ll find the basketball and tennis courts,” Junmyeon says without looking up from where he’s tying his shoelaces. “There’s a small cabin near it, pretty sure you’ll find all the racquets and balls there.”

“Or in Chanyeol’s pants,” Baekhyun sniggers.

“I have racquets in my pants?”

Junmyeon ignores him, as usual. “Behind that is the mini golf-course, and –“

“Ew who plays mini golf at this age?” Luhan scrunches up his nose.

Junmyeon blinks. “I do.”

“Do you have bikes?” Jongin appears, hair still wet from the shower. “Sehun and I want to go biking round the place.”

“Without _me?”_ Luhan shrieks.

“Yeah, there are some behind the garage, go and have a look.” Standing up, Junmyeon brushes down his shirt and turns to Jongdae. “You ready?”

“Of course,” Jongdae replies, a little breathlessly.

 

 

The walk isn’t as far as Junmyeon made it out to be. Or maybe Jongdae’s just too lost in his eyes to notice where they’re going. The countryside really is different from the city – not only is the air a little fresher, but time seems to go just a tad bit slower, too. Everything is laid back, taking its time to appreciate another day of waking up, from the birds to the trees to the slow lazy wind and still lake. Unlike the hectic, frantic city, the countryside allows them to have somewhat of a breather before getting onto the next stage of their lives – a daunting thought, but an exciting one all the same.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“Huh? What?” Jongdae removes his earphone, nearly yanking off Junmyeon’s in the process. Jongdae doesn’t like his taste in music much – too boring, too mellow with no twist to it – but he lets Junmyeon share his earphones anyway.

“I said do you know where you’re going for college?”

Jongdae shakes his head. “Not really. I just take the test and see what happens, you know? Anyway, I might just walk around Seoul and hope some entertainment agency recruits me, so I might skip college and be a singer instead.”

The last part was supposed to be a joke, but Junmyeon nods seriously. “I think you’d be great at it. I’ve heard you in the school concert last year.”

“Oh my god,” burying his face in his hands, Jongdae mumbles, “don’t remind me.”

“But honestly, you’re so gifted. I’d be more surprised if you _weren’t_ recruited.”

“What about you?” Jongdae attempts to shift the subject away from himself. “Do you know where you’re going to go?”

“I always do,” Junmyeon laughs. “Everything’s in my parents’ book.”

“Oh.” Jongdae understands.

“I think this trip is the only impromptu thing that has happened in my entire life.” The pebble Junmyeon had kicked rolls off to the side of the road. Leaves flank the concrete lines, green bright against the dark grey. “It was really hard to convince my parents, especially with my wish of having no assistance at all. It took them weeks until they would reconsider it, and in the end I had to miss out on lots of the graduation parties.”

Jongdae laughs bitterly. “Don’t worry, I missed them too.”

“Yeah,” Junmyeon grins. “It might sound mean, but I was glad you missed yours as well. At least I didn’t have to feel lonely.”

At this, Jongdae nearly loses his footing and ends up half-tripping instead. The shop is just in front of them, so they buy the rice in small packets and divides the load in half for them to carry. The sun is starting to set and Junmyeon’s complaining that his feet are already sore, but as Jongdae’s arm brushes against Junmyeon’s and his fingers gripping Jongdae’s as he rifles through the plastic bag, insisting that he’s got more packets of rice and that he shouldn’t carry so much at once, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

 

[<<](http://aurics.livejournal.com/12664.html)

 

-

 

“What took you guys so long?”

When they return, Kyungsoo’s got one hand on his hip and the other brandishing a ladle of some kind. “The food’s nearly done and we haven’t even cooked the rice yet.”

“Calm down, Soo, there’s plenty of time.”

“I thought we were going to grill meat?” Jongdae pouts.

“Everyone’s too tired. Let’s do it tomorrow night and settle for homemade cooking tonight, okay?”

They toe off their shoes and silently bless Kyungsoo for cleaning the floor earlier. Chanyeol and Sehun are in the living room, sprawled across the carpet and eyes fixated on the screen.

“Where’s everyone else?” Junmyeon puts the rice on the kitchen counter, massaging his aching wrists. Jongdae does the same.

“Dunno,” Sehun’s eyes don’t leave the screen, fingers pounding away mercilessly at the controller. “Probably upstairs unpacking or something – hey! Chanyeol, why did you restart the game?”

“Because I was losing,” he huffs. “And it was only two minutes into the match.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes and turns to Junmyeon. “I better go unpack too.”

“Yeah, I’ll sort out the stuff we bought, you go ahead and wash up.”

 

-

 

 

Jongdae realises they haven’t had a proper tour around the house yet, so when he ascends the wooden staircase and reaches the second floor, he feels more than a little disoriented. He tries to remember how many bedrooms there are supposed to be in the house, and how many bathrooms are supposed to go with them. Where’s his and Junmyeon’s room anyway? Did Kyungsoo put the right bags in the right room? Jongdae suddenly needs to pee.

He tries the first door. Locked. So is the second one. Third time lucky, he stumbles into a well-lit bathroom that he thinks is fit for a hotel.

“Who turned the lights on?” he mutters, locking the door behind him. When he retracts his hand, dust comes away. “Kyungsoo really needs to clean this place, too –“

The sound of running water elicits a yelp out of him, and a small voice from behind the bathtub curtain sends shivers down his spine. “Who – who’s there?” Wait, this voice? “Kyungsoo?”

Jongdae lets out a sigh of relief. “It’s just me, Jongin.”

“Oh, Jongdae?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were – you know. I’ll leave now –“

Suddenly a very warm and wet hand grips his wrist and Jongdae nearly falls headfirst onto the floor if not for the strong hold Jongin’s got on him. He hears an amused chuckle, and he has to swallow the lump in his throat.

“You’re pretty daring to walk in while I’m –“

“I told you! I didn’t know!” He shakes his wrist. “Let me go.”

“It’s fine, there’s no need to hold back.” Jongin’s voice has dropped an octave lower, making Jongdae visibly shudder. “I’ll keep it a secret from everyone if we do it now…”

“What the fuck – what are you t-talking about –“

“Hey, don’t you want to,” Jongin lets out a sigh. “Do it with me?”

“Do what?”

Jongdae shrieks and closes his eyes shut when he hears the curtain being haphazardly pulled back, and he’s about to scream when Jongin cheerfully says, “Clean the bathtub!”

Jongdae opens his eyes and gapes at Jongin through the mirror on the opposite wall, watching him laugh as if he’s high, clutching his stomach and hand propped up on the edge of the bathtub to support himself.

“Man, I should’ve recorded that, you were hilarious!” Jongin’s eyes nearly disappear between the folds of his eyelids. “My god, Jongdae, what were you thinking of?”

A million and one images flash through Jongdae’s head, but he decides to shake them off if he wants to keep the contents of his stomach inside. “You’re the worst.”

“And you’ve only known me for so many days! Or hours,” Jongin turns the tap off, wiping his hands on his shirt. “Why did you come in anyway?”

“I don’t need to go anymore. I lost all my senses.”

“That’s unfortunate. But hey, admit it,” Jongin snakes a hand around his shoulders. “You’ve thought about doing _it_ with me, right?”

This time Jongdae doesn’t hesitate and pinches Jongin’s nose hard until he’s screaming like a girl and his nose turns the colour of cherry tomatoes. “I’ll tell Kyungsoo you harassed me.”

“No! Wait, don’t! Come on, it was just a joke.”

But Jongdae’s already out the bathroom, leaving Jongin as a blubbering mess in the bathroom.

“Kyungsoo!”

“Huh?” Kyungsoo turns to see a very flustered, on the verge of mental breakdown Jongdae, if his exaggerated sobbing and flapping arms were any indication. “What is it?”

More arm flailing, while Jongdae continues to wail. Kyungsoo frowns. “Jongin? Pretending to take a shower? Toying with a pure guy’s heart? Uh, okay…but did you start cleaning the bathroom?”

Jongdae shakes his head no. He watches in glee as Kyungsoo throws down his rag. “Everyone is useless when it comes to cleaning! Fine, I’ll do it myself. And I’ll teach Jongin a lesson while I’m at it.”

It takes all of Jongdae’s self restraint not to burst into laughter the moment Kyungsoo bounds up the stairs. Very soon afterwards he hears Kyungsoo shouting, “Hey, Jongin, you bas–”

The silence is nearly suffocating but Jongdae manages to hold his laughter back with convulsively shaking shoulders as he watches Kyungsoo appear at the top of the stairs, eyes impossibly wide and face a little paler than usual. His feet tremble when he sluggishly descends.

“Jongin…he was really…taking a shower…”

“Really?”

“Jongin…he’s like…” Kyungsoo makes a crude gesture near his groin that Jongdae didn’t even know he had in him. “Boom! There, and –“

Out of nowhere, a wet towel smacks Kyungsoo in the face and he screams, trying to get the filthy thing off. “Cut the useless shit!” Jongin shouts, ignoring Kyungsoo’s cries of _bacteria burns!_

“I’m more surprised that he hasn’t seen you, you know, down there yet. If you guys are together.” Jongdae raises his eyebrows.

“Yeah, well,” Jongin huffs. “He acts like he’s my mother. So it’s kind of hard to get to that stage yet.” Jongin makes sure he hitches his voice a little louder to say, “Sometimes I wonder if he wants it too or not.”

But unfortunately, Kyungsoo is still too busy struggling with the towel and trying not to suffocate from the thought of _dirt on his face_ to pay any attention to Jongin, who sighs and shakes his wet hair.

“I didn’t even get to rinse and repeat.”

 

 

-

 

 

Luhan skips into the kitchen, his iPod blasting _Mirotic_ into his ears and a Stitch plushie under his right arm. He looks around and upon seeing only Junmyeon manning the stove and laying out the dishes, he frowns.

“Where’s Kyungsoo? Isn’t this supposed to be his natural habitat?”

Junmyeon doesn’t look up from where he’s staring holes into an instant curry packet. “He’s recuperating from his shock somewhere.”

Luhan snorts. “That’s his own fault. He’s been together with Jongin for ages, I can’t believe they still haven’t –“

“Can you call Jongdae over for me?”

Baffled at being interrupted, Luhan sputters, “why?”

“I need help to cook dinner for everyone. Kyungsoo didn’t leave very detailed instructions.”

“Why couldn’t you have asked _me?_ Don’t you trust me?”

Junmyeon finally looks up to stare at him for a very long time.

“Okay, okay, sheesh I’ll get Jongdae.”

 

-

 

“Woah, the dinner looks great!” Baekhyun exclaims, smacking his lips unattractively. Chanyeol is still smiling at him dreamily anyway. “Hey! We can survive without Kyungsoo in this house!”

“Excuse me?” Sitting down gingerly in his seat, Kyungsoo sends a look at Baekhyun and glances up at Jongin, who had helped him get to his seat with a smile. _He can change expressions so quickly,_ Jongdae thinks. “Is my sole purpose in this house to be your personal servant and housemaid?”

“Well, _someone’s_ gotta be it, right? You just happen to be good at doing what maids do.”

Before Kyungsoo gets to say another word, Jongdae brings in two more plates of curry and some of the _kalbi_ they’ll grill. That pretty much shut everyone up, even Sehun and Chanyeol who still can’t stop arguing about who should’ve won in the game. Food really brings people together.

“Let me help you with that,” Junmyeon says, picking up the left side of the dish. It’s not even remotely heavy, yet Junmyeon tuts and shakes his head. “You should stop carrying such heavy things, Jongdae. You’ll age too soon.”

“Please, you should see the grocery my mum makes me carry.”

Once everyone has settled in and Kyungsoo has more or less sobered up, they thank Junmyeon for the food (“ _thaaaaaaanks for the house too”)_ and dig into their food. Everyone goes back to having small talks amongst themselves, happily shoving rice and saucy chicken into their mouths and ignoring Kyungsoo’s chidings of _close your mouth when you eat!_ It’s on the second mouthful of food that the whole room falls silent, pairs of wide eyes staring at Junmyeon and Jongdae and their faces reddening and at first Jongdae is really confused until –

“HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU PUT IN THIS?”

“I’M TASTING HELL ON MY TONGUE.”

“SOMEONE GET ME WATER THE INSIDES OF MY STOMACH ARE SHRIVELING UP.”

“JUNMYEON!” Chanyeol cries, tongue hanging out of his mouth and his eyes watering until a single tear trails down his left cheek. His face is comically red. “What the fuck did you put in this?”

“I – oh god – I don’t know,” Junmyeon tries to keep his composure, but his eyes are delirious in the way that they dart around in search for a glass of water. “Jongdae and I just read the instructions on the packet.”

“THE HEAT. IT’S HERE. IT’S GOING INTO MY HEAD.” Everyone ignores Baekhyun’s dramatic shrieks.

“I think you ruined my vocal cords.” Sehun sits back down with his glass of water, only to have it snatched away from his hands by Jongin. “Hey!”

‘”You don’t even have vocal cords. You can’t sing for shit.”

Eventually Jongdae is sick of just sitting there and nursing his burning throat so he gets up and manages to fill up seven glasses of water. He thinks it might have completely been his fault, because when Junmyeon had asked to make the dish a little spicier, he’d been too distracted by the concentration evident on Junmyeon’s face that when he had finished putting the chili powder in, the broth had turned completely red. He thought it was normal. It certainly _looked_ normal. He didn’t spare the dish a second thought when Junmyeon pouts, and all his worries had been flung out the window.

Jongdae shakes his head. He returns to the table and hurriedly drops the tray before everyone else pounces on it like dehydrated desert dwellers.

“JUNMYEON.”

“WHAT.”

Chanyeol doesn’t flinch at Junmyeon’s louder tone, and instead breaks out into a grin. “This is…. strangely delicious.”

“I know. Despite the spiciness, it has a certain allure to it…” Kyungsoo says, shoveling some more in his mouth and tightening his grip on the glass of water. “It’s like there’s a certain kind of addictiveness to it. Did you spike this thing?”

“I wish I was that skilled of a cook,” Junmyeon laughs, fanning his still red face. “This is why you should always take charge of making dinner, Soo.”

“Is this just an excuse to make me do the chores?”

A chorus of ‘ _yes!’_ reverberates through the room, followed by laughter that sounds thick with food and the occasional choking in the background. Jongdae wills away the thumping in his ears and smiles to himself. He can definitely get used to this.

 

 

-

 

 

“Lights out! I’m going to be coming in to check everyone’s rooms before midnight!”

“What the fuck,” Sehun looks up from his snack. “Why are you tucking us in bed?”

“I’m not going to _tuck_ you in, I’m just going to make sure that everyone goes to bed properly.”

“I feel like I’m in a boarding school.”

“Well I know who’s going to like it,” Baekhyun snickers, sneaking a glance at Jongdae who sends him a warning look in return. He doesn’t need the whole world to know about his crush – one Baekhyun and one Chanyeol, and possibly one Luhan since Jongdae caught him sniggering at him during dinner, are more than enough.

“I’m going to drop by again in the morning.”

“What if we want to do something private in the morning?” Luhan pouts. “I don’t know, like –“

Suddenly Luhan jumps up from the sofa and lets out a high-pitched shriek, nearly tripping over Sehun lying on his stomach on the carpet. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Sehun groans, clutching his side.

“That! On – on the back of my neck! I felt something wet and –“ Luhan shudders. “It felt cold!”

“Stop being such an attention-seeker, Lu –“ Jongdae is cut off by another shriek, and this time Luhan drops down to the floor clutching arms.

“I felt it again!” He brings a trembling hand to his neck to feel it, oblivious to the amused expressions on his friends’ faces and smells his fingers. “It…smells like seaweed.”

“I think you really need to go to bed,” Chanyeol says, gripping his shoulders to push him in the direction of his and Baekhyun’s shared room. “Your brain is going more haywire than it already is.”

“Wait, did Baekhyun just call me an attention-seeker?” Luhan asks rather belatedly, earning a snort from his boyfriend.

“Yes, I think everyone needs to go to bed. Turn the console off, now. And Soo, remember to turn the stove off and close the kitchen door. Sehun and Jongin, clean up your snacks. Everyone else, bed!”

Nobody moves except Jongdae, who instantly jumps up to follow Junmyeon’s orders.

“You can stop pretending to be authoritative, now.” Baekhyun sniggers.

Junmyeon sighs, resting a hand on his hip. “Why can’t you all be good boys like Jongdae?”

His tone is playful and exaggerated, but Jongdae can’t help but feel a burst of pride in his chest when Junmyeon says that. He happily skips to his and Junmyeon’s shared room, anticipating the sounds of Junmyeon’s calm, even breathing when he sleeps and seeing him maintain one sleeping position until dawn.

Not that Jongdae would know. He definitely did not do some research.

 

 

-

 

 

“What happened to you?”

Jongin limps into the room, hair sticking out at odd angles and face looking like a truck had run him over. Jongdae grimaces and pushes away his breakfast, because it is not a pleasant sight and he has just lost his appetite.

“Luhan kicked me out of Sehun’s room. Don’t know what he said, but mentioned something about Seaweed Monster or some shit. I had to migrate to Baekhyun’s room, and turns out they’ve pushed the two beds together. Baekhyun ended up hogging like four-fifths of the bed.”

“Wow,” Kyungsoo whistles, setting down Jongin’s breakfast and softly massaging his shoulders. “Sorry you had to go through that. Do you want some tea? Or some of that dark coffee you like?”

“Coffee, thanks Soo.”Jongin pries Kyungsoo’s hand away from his shoulder to plant a kiss on it, and Kyungsoo’s face flushes red. Jongdae scoffs, but inside he feels a little jealous of their domesticity. Everything pleasant and relaxed comes easily to them, mostly without a second thought, and Jongdae wonders when he’ll be able to have that kind of relationship with Junmyeon.

With someone. He means someone. _It doesn’t have to specifically be Junmyeon, nope_ , he tries to convince himself.

“I feel sorry for Junmyeon,” Jongin sighs rather contentedly when Kyungsoo places a mug in front of him. “He’s probably going to walk into their room and it’ll be –“

“Uh, guys,” Junmyeon walks in, face a little paler than usual. “Why is Luhan in Sehun’s bedroom?”

“He kicked Jongin out. What’s wrong?”

Junmyeon shudders. “Just. See it for yourself.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Holy crap. Should we wake them up?”

They stare at the two bodies on the bed, arms tangled and toes peeking out from underneath the blanket. Luhan’s head is resting on Sehun’s bare chest, an expression of content and bliss on his sleeping face, and Sehun’s head rests against his. They look like they’ve been glued together, every inch of skin pressed against each other’s. Jongdae feels a pang of jealousy, and doesn’t try to hide it as he scoffs at the pair.

Kyungsoo moves to pull the blanket off of them, but Jongin stops him abruptly. “Don’t.”

“Why not?”

“We don’t know if they’re naked or not.”

“Oh.” Kyungsoo turns quiet all of a sudden. “Right. Okay.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Are they gone yet?”

Luhan looks up, glancing at the door. “Yeah. Do you think we scared them enough?”

“They were shitting their pants, I wish I could’ve seen their faces.” Sehun laughs, left arm finding its way back to Luhan’s bare torso until it rests on his waist, fingers tracing circles on his jutting hipbone.

“Perfect. We can have the room all to ourselves now.”

 

 

-

 

 

They all step out to the edge of the lake, feeling the increased humidity from yesterday. _It’s even hotter than the curry!_ Baekhyun had said.

“Okay guys, I decided to ump my security measures to avoid having _episodes_ like yesterday,” Junmyeon’s gaze travels to Luhan, who shoots him an annoyed look in return. “So meet my new recruit, Kris the lifeguard!”

A very tall and pretty buff guy walks out, his face looking like it had been chiseled out of the blessed marble from the highest heavens even behind the obnoxiously large sunglasses perched on his nose.

“Holy shit, you’re hot.” Baekhyun gapes, not even trying to be subtle. Behind him, Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow together.

“Um, thanks?”

“He’s dropping by here from Canada as a part of his gap year schedule. He’s not very fluent in Korean, so I’d really appreciate it if you guys help him out!”

“I know some effective ways of learning the language,” Baekhyun licks his lips. “They all involve the bed.”

Kris just stares at Luhan and Baekhyun laughing hysterically with a stoic expression, and Jongdae’s not sure if he’s trying very hard to ignore the inappropriate remark or if he really doesn’t understand that much Korean yet.

“Okay, moving on,” Junmyeon shrugs. “I thought the facilities here are a bit lacking, so –“

“What the fuck,” Jongin gapes. “You’ve got a freaking mansion with plasma TV and like five different gaming consoles, DVD sets, a tennis court, a basketball court, a damn _lake_ , world-class bikes, a garage the size of my house I don’t even want to know what’s inside –“

“ _Anyway_ ,” Jongdae finds it amusing (and possibly a little endearing) that Junmyeon gets uncomfortable when his wealth or prestigious status is mentioned, considering how he’s practically swimming in three oceans of money. “I phoned my dad to ask about other activities we can possibly do, and – Yixing, Tao, Minseok, can you come out here?”

“Holy shit, he’s hot too,” Baekhyun points at the tall dark-haired boy with glaring eyes that seem to cut through the air. “Oh fuck I’m so torn now.”

“Ehem.” Chanyeol tries, but Baekhyun ignores him. Chanyeol visibly deflates.

“This is Yixing and Minseok. They’ll be your kayak instructors – yes I’ve got some kayaks, Jongin.” A very handsome guy with a handsome dimpled smile waves, while the smaller ( _and cuter_ , Luhan comments much to Sehun’s discontent) shouts out an enthusiastic _hello!_

“This is Tao, your firearms instructor –“

“Firearms? Junmyeon what the –“

“For paintball, calm down,” Junmyeon rolls his eyes. “There’s an indoor pistol range that is hardly ever used, so we can drop by sometime. But he’s mainly here to help us set up the paintball games and stuff.”

“We’re going to go paintballing?”

“Maybe, one day. But first, let’s go try out the kayak, shall we?”

 

-

 

“Kayak is a very leisurely sport, to be honest, and it’s very basic, hardly complicated,” Yixing nods fervently at everything coming out of his own mouth, the action oddly contagious. “We’re just kind of here to help you out, really.”

They’ve all got their kayaks with them, the water lapping at the oars and plastic body. Luhan and Baekhyun had bickered for the best-looking one (purple with pink decals. Jongdae doesn’t even know where to begin) while Sehun had already broken his oars into two before he even got his toe in the water. Jongdae is starting to realise why they need two instructors for such a simple sport.

“Once you’ve got your lifejacket secured and you’ve stretched, just slide in and position your feet comfortably so that you won’t get cramps.”

“Hey Jongdae,” Baekhyun walks up to him, lifejacket comically wrapped around his body and making his arms stick out. “Aren’t you going to make a move anytime soon?”

“Move for what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, hips cocked to the side. “A move on Junmyeon. Aren’t you supposed to be planning this whole thing throughout the trip?”

“Well um,” Jongdae feels heat creeping up to his cheeks. He rarely gets embarrassed around Baekhyun, but he’s never been one for sentiments, either. “I…kind of got lost with the whole atmosphere, you know. Junmyeon’s friends are really nice and fun, and just doing everyday things with Junmyeon, it’s…kind of satisfying? Just walking with him and having him beside me, talking to him about the weirdest things…”

Baekhyun narrows his eyes, and is silent for a few moments. “Are you just saying this because you’ve secretly slept with him in your room?”

“What? The hell, no way man.”

“Well aren’t you one lucky guy to have a friend like Byun Baekhyun,” he throws an arm around Jongdae. “He’s your entertainer, saviour, guardian and cupid all in one. Clap for me.”

“I didn’t ask for help though.”

“It’s free of charge, don’t worry.”

 

-

 

 

Jongdae has just found a spot for himself, quite a distance away from the shore and everyone else with only the large expanse of rippling water to accompany him. He stops paddling and is about to tilt his head back to inhale the fresh air when he hears a frenzy of splashing.

Jongdae turns around, and nearly screams as he sees Baekhyun rowing full-speed towards him (when did he acquire that extra strength?). Only he doesn’t get the chance to, because the next thing he knows he’s got his head the wrong way round in the water and something heavy and plastic slapping painfully at his back. Water rushes into his head and his lungs are screaming for air, and he hears the faint sounds of a pair of oars getting closer.

“Baekhyun!”

Arms flailing, Jongdae manages to resurface with his torso bobbing up and down, nearly hitting his head on his kayak in the process. Just when he manages to get his bearings properly, he hears a click under his chin and sees his lifejacket being forcefully pried away from his body.

_Holy shit I can’t fucking swim_ his brain is screaming, and Byun Baekhyun knows this. That son of a bitch.

“Help! Someone, help!” In a few seconds flat, Jongdae had gone back to being submerged underwater, spluttering and gasping whenever his head bobs up. Baekhyun’s shouting continues to pound in his ears. “Help! Jongdae’s lifejacket came off! Please save him, someone strong and _NOT YOU, KYUNGSOO!_ HELP!”

Either Baekhyun had dragged Luhan into this or he had caught up to the situation very well, but soon Jongdae hears him shout, “Where’s Junmyeon? Isn’t he the expert at this?”

Jongdae contemplates saving his energy and just drowning – he’d die either way, might as well not die from embarrassment.

He hears some faraway grunts and more splashing, and soon strong arms were gripping Jongdae’s waist and dragging him up. He feels himself being lifted up onto a flat surface that seems like it’s going to give way any second. Strong hands splay themselves on his chest, and push once, twice thrice. Junmyeon’s hands feel good, and Jongdae’s head slowly stops spinning but he still wants to enjoy the feel of Junmyeon’s hands on his chest so he keeps his eyes closed, and –

“Push harder, Kris!”

Wait. Kris?

Jongdae’s eyes fly open to a face-full of frazzled blonde hair and thick eyebrows. Screaming, he knocks his forehead painfully on Kris’, sending his head back to the floor of the small boat.

“Are you…alright, Jongdae?” To the right, Junmyeon is slowly rowing towards him, an expression of concern across his face.

Jongdae wants to cry, partly because he had just been groped by someone he doesn’t know (Jongdae is very specific about his personal space, okay) but also partly because Baekhyun’s voice reminds him of why he’s in this position in the first place.

“God, if you’re fine why did you have to make such a big deal out of this, Jongdae? Stop being such a drama queen.”

Jongdae knows Baekhyun’s just jealous of his close proximity to Kris, so he replies, “that lifejacket. Orange. Doesn’t go with your kayak.”

He revels in the shriek and string of curses Baekhyun lets out.

 

 

-

 

 

“Here’s the home theater!”

Junmyeon opens a door to a room full of big cushiony chairs in three rows, the lighting of a subtle orange hue and the air smelling of caramel popcorn and air freshener. A wide screen occupies the opposite wall and the feeling of the soft carpet under his feet and the smooth leather of the chair are a little too much for Jongdae. He lets out a whimper.

“Holy crap, Junmyeon,” Chanyeol says for what seems like the thousandth time that trip. “Seriously man, what _don’t_ you have?”

“Love,” Baekhyun sniggers and Junmyeon’s ears turn a pretty shade of pink.

“Well, uh, we can sit down and decide on a movie?”

When they’ve all settled down, Junmyeon takes out small strips of paper and a few pens. “I thought this was the most civil way to go about it. Write your preferred movie and we’ll decide?”

“Too lazy to write,” Luhan groans, sliding down the leather seat in a huff. “But okay, fine. Baekhyun, want to decide together?”

“No conspiring!” Junmyeon tries, but everyone else has turned around to discuss their choice of movies with each other. Sighing, Junmyeon sends a helpless look at Jongdae. “Nothing works with these kids, huh?”

“You sound twenty years older than what you really are, don’t do that,” Jongdae nearly pats his shoulder, but draws his hand back at the last moment. Junmyeon just chuckles.

After ten long minutes, everyone has more or less come up with something on the paper. They all submit their suggestions to Junmyeon in a pile of mess (except Kyungsoo’s neatly folded one) and they sit in anticipation, waiting for Junmyeon to pick one.

“Okay, so Luhan’s….and Baekhyun’s,” Junmyeon squints. “Have four suggestions.”

“We couldn’t pick one!”

“ _Sleepless in Seattle_ , _The Notebook, Mulan_ and _What Women Want_ ….”

“The classics,” Luhan sighs dreamily. “You can never get tired of them.”

“O…kay. Next, Sehun.” Junmyeon flips open another piece of paper. “ _Step Up_ or _New Girl_. Isn’t that a series?”

“It’s so worth the watch I swear.”

“Jongin. _Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, Thor –_ I don’t think you guys understood the meaning of ‘one suggestion’.”

“How was I supposed to pick just one out of the many glorious superhero movies?”

“What’s so good about watching men with too much testosterone and possibly on steroids walking around with an off-brand shield?” Baekhyun scrunches his nose in distaste.

“Kyungsoo. _I don’t care._ I’ve never heard of this movie before.”

“It’s not a movie.” Kyungsoo stares at Junmyeon with blank eyes. “I really don’t care what we watch or not.”

“You could’ve sided with me,” Jongin whines.

“Chanyeol. _Toy Story 3_ or _The Incredibles._ What? Okay, okay I’m not judging you.” Junmyeon sighs. “Jongdae, _Dead Alive._ Woah, are you sure?”

“Fuck you Jongdae, you really want me dead don’t you?” Luhan swats at his head.

“What? I enjoy horror, okay.” He shrugs.

Junmyeon rifles through the pile of paper. “Wait, Kris, Yixing, Tao and Minseok, you guys didn’t give your suggestions in?”

“We don’t mind anything,” Kris shrugs. “We don’t even feel like we should be here, it was very kind of you to invite us.”

“Yea ‘cause they’re peasants,” Baekhyun yelps when Chanyeol elbows him in the ribs. “Okay, okay, _hot_ peasants.”

“Well, how should we pick one now…”

“Just pick one out of the hat.”

“Okay, okay,” Junmyeon carefully folds each individual paper back up, neatly laying them out on the base of the tophat he had pulled out of nowhere. He smoothens the edges of the folds, taking care to press his thumb down just right –

“Fucking hell, can’t you just get on with it?”

After swatting Baekhyun’s head, Junmyeon shakes the hat with a grin on his face. “Okay! This is it!”

“It’s not the presidential election, no need to hype it up.”

“Shhh, quiet. Now,” putting a hand in, Junmyeon’s fingers prod at the pieces of paper. “What movie will I pick?”

The whole room holds its breath as Junmyeon pulls out a piece of paper. Clearing his throat, he flips the paper open with an excited smile.

That smile promptly falls of his face as he reads it.

“Oh my god, that’s not good.”

“Shit, do you think he chose Chanyeol’s baby movies?”

“Hey!”

“What is it?” Jongdae implores. “Can I see?”

Baekhyun wolf-whistles when Jongdae scoots closer to Junmyeon to read over his shoulder, only to end up on the floor as he clutches his stomach, laughing hard.

“This is a joke!” Jongdae laughs out. “This is not happening.”

“What is it?” Climbing out of his seat, Sehun taps Junmyeon’s shoulder. “Just show us already.”

Junmyeon slowly turns the paper around, and instantly the whole room explodes.

Because Junmyeon had just picked _Dead Alive_.

 

 

-

 

 

“Sehun, do you have your phone with you?”

“Why? Luhan, I’m not going to let you go through my chats anymore I swear I’m not cheating on you.”

“It’s not that. I need to film my will, because this movie will be the death of me.”

 

 

-

 

Jongdae isn’t even remotely scared, honestly. The blood is too exaggerated to be real, gushing out of every corpse and splattering onto the camera like volcano eruptions or something.

What unfortunately happens, though, is that he instinctively screams whenever Luhan does. It’s like a reflex – when someone starts screaming, they all start raising their voices even when they don’t know what’s going on.

“AAAAH!!!!”

“AAAAAHHH!! WHAT IS IT?”

“FUCK OH MY GOD.”

“HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SCARY OH MY GOD WAIT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED.”

“STOP GRABBING ONTO ME!”

“WHERE’S THE POPCORN??”

Sometime during the movie, Luhan’s screams (yes, his screams and _not_ the movie) must have really gotten to Jongdae, because he finds his hand fisted in the long sleeve of Junmyeon’s sweater.

“Are…are you okay, Jongdae?” Junmyeon whispers in his ear, making him jump out of his seat, suppressing another scream. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

“What? Huh? Oh, yeah I’m – I’m fine.”

“I thought you liked horror?”

“I do. It’s just – people’s screaming. Scares me.”

Junmyeon raises an eyebrow, flinching when he hears some more exaggerated gory sounds of death. “So screams scare you more than all of…this.”

Before Jongdae can reply, he hears a soft moan from somewhere behind him. Casting a confused look at Junmyeon, he cranes his neck back, only to be greeted with a faceful of Luhan in Sehun’s lap.

“Oh my _god_ , that’s gross guys,” Jongdae makes a face at his two friends making out. “Get out and get a room.”

“You’re the one who chose the horror movie,” Luhan replies. “I need some form of distraction from this.”

“Not in front of _us_ , you hormonal jerk.” Jongin throws an empty can of coke at Luhan’s head. “Either take the very back seat of the cinema or –“

“Gladly.” Sehun breaks away from Luhan to drag him farther away from his group of friends. Junmyeon sighs.

“Leave them be. They’d do that regardless of what movie we watch.”

“Even Toy Story?”

Junmyeon grins. “Especially Toy Story.”

 

-

 

 

“Thanks a lot, Jongdae,” Jongin mumbles as they all stomp up the stairs. “Another sleepless night for me, then. Woohoo.”

“You can always ask Kyungsoo to cuddle you in bed.”

Kyungsoo throws a dirty look at Jongdae, who starts laughing at the sight of a blushing Jongin. When Junmyeon walks beside him, though, his laughter promptly stops.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, you know,” Jongin shrugs. “Just Jongdae trying to meddle with other people’s love lives when he can’t even kick-start his own.”

If Jongdae was not as fatigued, he would have pushed Jongin off the banister and send him into a bone-crushing landing as soon as he started laughing. So he settles on pinching the skin on Jongin’s thigh very, very hard, and ignores the way Junmyeon sends him questioning looks.

 

-

 

They’re in the living room minding their own business when it happens. The sun has set and they’ve all been drained from the intense swimming session, with Baekhyun and Luhan repeatedly challenging each other to duels. Using swimming noodles, they had managed to hold a makeshift jousting match in the middle of the lake, ignoring the countless eye-rolls Kyungsoo sent their way.

“I want to go for a drive.” Jongin whines.

“Sorry,” Junmyeon says, not looking up from his book. “The simulator’s broken. I sent someone to fix it before we came, but he never showed up.”

“I meant a _real_ car.”

“You’re not old enough to drive around you stupid kid.” Baekhyun shoots back. He’s in a bad mood because he had lost three consecutive duels with Luhan previously.

“Yes I am!”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you’re not fifteen anymore.”

“It’s been more than a week,” Junmyeon remarks between a stick of pepero. “Should we stick to the schedule and go back home tomorrow?”

“No!” Baekhyun scrambles up the couch, pleading at Junmyeon with his pout. “How about the day after tomorrow? It’s too soon to go.”

“I really don’t want to leave this place,” Kyungsoo stretches out on the sofa, arms nearly punching Sehun in the face. “But I’ve got family things to do before I go to university. Not to mention the packing and everything.”

“I know. Most of us do. I think it’s best if we leave tomorrow.”

Baekhyun is still pouting, because that decision did not help dampen his angry mood. The atmosphere in the room has dimmed down like a flickering flame that has been blown off, because however chaotic this holiday had been, none of them want to leave the lake house.

“Aw, guys, don’t sulk like that,” Junmyeon smiles. “We can come back here in the future!”

“No we can’t!” Baekhyun whines. “Because you’ll hog it for your honeymoon with Jongdae in the future.”

A (totally Luhan) gasp followed by silence suddenly envelops the room, and Junmyeon frowns in confusion. “What?”

Jongdae grits his teeth. “What the fuck, Baek?”

“You’re so _dense,_ Junmyeon. Can’t you see Jongdae’s, like, neck-deep in love with you?”

Jongdae makes a gurgling noise at the back of his throat when Luhan quips, “I can testify!”

“Oooooh, drama.” Sehun scoots backwards in his couch, trying to distance himself as far away from Junmyeon as possible.

Chanyeol suddenly brings his phone to his ear, despite the absence of his ringtone, and walks out the room with a louder-than-necessary _hello?_

“I – I don’t understand.”

Baekhyun looks like he’s about to explode. “Jongdae. Is. Ridiculously. Unconditionally. In. Love. With –“

“I’m going to go to bed,” Jongdae says. “And Baekhyun, make sure you check your damn phone.”

Before he tucks himself in bed, Jongdae sends a (tearfully) angry text message to Baekhyun, mostly in the form of stickers and threats like _I’ll cut off Chanyeol’s balls and give it to Kyungsoo to cook so he can feed it to you, you motherfucking asshole_ and _If I get married to Junmyeon in the future, we are definitely NOT inviting you back here, jerk_ but also, at the end, _you promised you wouldn’t tell._

Jongdae feels like he’s back in high school and he doesn’t like it, so he snuggles up in his covers and falls asleep before Junmyeon can walk in and talk.

 

 

-

 

 

Jongdae wakes up late to Junmyeon’s empty bed and three text messages from Baekhyun. Two of them are replies to his threats that made Jongdae run to the bathroom to stop gagging – _I already know how Chanyeol’s balls taste like, loser –_ and the last one; _it’s not that bad. You’ll see._

He sees that Junmyeon’s bags have been zipped and stacked up neatly in the corner of the room, so Jongdae figures he should do the same. He’s not in the mood to be doing anything right, so after two minutes of trying to patiently fold his clothes he opts for throwing them in his bag, sitting on it and zipping it up forcefully, the seams nearly bursting from the contents.

It’s like last night hadn’t happened when Jongdae walks into the kitchen, and maybe Jongdae would have believed it didn’t if it weren’t for Baekhyun’s messages still in his phone.

“Oh, look who just rolled out of bed.”

“What?” Jongdae brings a hand to his hair, hurt by Kyungsoo’s remark. “I thought I cleaned up pretty well.”

“’Pretty well’ isn’t good enough. You need to look _stunning.”_ Luhan grins. “I can’t wait to show you guys my airport fashion.”

“We’re not even going to an airport.” Jongin deadpans.

“Any outfit to do with travel, I’m calling it ‘airport fashion’, okay?”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Either still packing, or loading the van up with the luggage. We’re leaving in, like, fifteen minutes. You woke up pretty late.”

“Yeah, well,” Jongdae laughs. “Waking up didn’t sound so tempting after last night.”

“Hey, don’t overthink it. We’ve all been there right? No one takes Baekhyun seriously anyway.”

“I heard that!” Baekhyun saunters in the kitchen, crumbs on his face from his breakfast. “Stop being such a worrywart, man. Look, I’m sorry, okay. Hating me for a moment is fine, but just not forever.”

Jongdae laughs. “I don’t hate you, Baek.”

Chanyeol walks in to ask Baekhyun where the rest of his bags are, but he suddenly stops in his tracks.

“What is it?”

“You’ve got something right…there.” Chanyeol brings a thumb to wipe at the corner of Baekhyun’s lips, when the crumbs are obviously on his chin.

Jongdae groans. He definitely hates Baekhyun now.

 

-

 

They settle into the van that will take them to the train station, and Jongdae had somehow ended up with Junmyeon as his seatmate. He thanks all the deities up there that nothing has turned awkward, that they can still converse normally like old days. Like the friends they are.

“Hey, about last night…” Junmyeon starts, and Jongdae senses a dreaded feeling in the pit of his stomach. Junmyeon laughs. “Don’t look so worried, relax! I just wanted to say that don’t get so hung up about it. I’ll overlook it – besides, it’s Baekhyun, and nobody takes him seriously anyway.”

Somewhere at the back, Baekhyun shouts _I heard that!_ Jongdae lets out a relieved sigh, and fumbles with his thumbs. “I’m glad. Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, so. Don’t look so tense. Have some fun before we have to go back to serious mode.”

The van pulls up, and Junmyeon slides the door open to let everyone out. Their chatters turn more and more excited as they load out the luggage, because although they’ll be leaving behind what had been an incredible holiday, whatever’s waiting for them in the future is not anything short of exciting, either.

“Guess we’ll be busy for the next few weeks, huh.”

Junmyeon shakes his head. “Not too busy that you won’t be able to make time to go out.” He smiles. “We can always go for a coffee together. Or a movie. Or lunch. Or anything you want, really.”

Jongdae feels his heart beat faster in his chest. “Really?”

“Well, yeah. Knowing you, you’d probably stress out within a few days. It’d be nice to take a break and hang out, don’t you think?”

“With…Baekhyun and Chanyeol…and everyone else?”

Junmyeon shyly grins as they all step into the air-conditioned station. “I think just the two of us sounds good.”

Jongdae decides that the words are the highlight of that day – and it’s still only noon. Jongdae shouldn’t think of it as much, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. And there’s something else that makes it much, much better.

Baekhyun’s not there to throw a snarky comment at him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol  
i'm sorry i have no explanations i'll just go hide in the corner now bye  
i am actually properly embarrassed to have written such a fic  
 ~~this is all~~[](http://aeroply.livejournal.com/profile)[ **aeroply**](http://aeroply.livejournal.com/)'s headcanon ok

 


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